Author: Jackie Strause

September 28, 2016 8:00pm PT by Jackie Strause

Courtesy of TV Land

Liza (Sutton Foster) and Josh (Nico Tortorella) in ‘Younger’

Foster, who plays a 40-year-old posing as 26, talks to THR about the third season and why the TV Land series is “eye-opening” when it comes to ageism.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the third season premiere of Younger, “A Kiss Is Just a Kiss.”]

Liza has gotten herself into a bit of a pickle.

After a kiss from her boss (Peter Hermann) and a vow from her on-and-off boyfriend (Nico Tortorella) that he’s “all in” in the season two finale, TV Land’s Younger returned with Liza’s boyfriend(ish) Josh delivering on his promise and boss Charles asking her on a date. Liza (played by Sutton Foster) agreed to meet Charles, but when the arrival of a mutual friend threatens to blow her cover as a 26-year-old, she bails. (Liza is actually 40 with her own twentysomething daughter.)

Her decision to reject Charles’ somewhat-indecent proposal could put her job in jeopardy. But the Josh-Liza-Charles love triangle is something that will continue to play out through the entire season, Foster says.

“Liza’s priority is a struggle,” the star tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The reason she’s doing all of this to begin with is to get back into publishing and to reestablish herself as a working individual — so these boys are causing problems!”

For the second time in the series run, Younger earned an early renewal and is already confirmed to come back for a fourth season. Season three’s 12 new episodes kicked off Wednesday, with the Darren Star-created drama’s move to the fall TV season.

How long, though, can Liza’s secret remain at the heart of the story, and could the show go on if she is fully revealed? Foster gives her answer to that question in the below chat with THR. She also explains why Younger is erasing misconceptions about ageism (“We’re all just trying to figure things out”), why Charles feels “inevitable” and names the one character she’s dying for Liza to tell.

Welcome back! How does it feel to already be renewed for a fourth season before season three even premiered?

We’re back! In this business, where there’s no job security, it’s always nice that at the wrap party we can say, “See ya next season!” It’s exciting.

The Josh-Liza-Charles love triangle continues after last season’s finale. Josh, who already knows Liza’s secret, is now proving to Liza that he’s all in. Is she impressed with Josh 2.0?

Josh is really stepping up to the plate and showing her that he’s more than just a fling. It’s really making her question whether or not this relationship has long-term legs. She’s sort of figuring this all out. But of course, she’s got a little bit of her heart and her eye set on Charles as well. But I will say, Josh really is impressive this season.

We see through the exercise at work that Liza is still hung up on Charles, even though she seems back with Josh. Will Liza be torn through the entire season?

This season, she’s really trying to get her priorities straight: What’s really important here? Throughout the entire season, she’s weighing all these options and it’s not an easy choice or easy decisions. Some real adult things come into play between her and Josh. They have to face their future and the possibilities of their future together, what they both want and don’t want, and that really comes into play as well.

As an actress, how much fun is it to play being torn—

Between two hot guys? (Laughs.)

Well, yes. But also, to be toying with what your real self wants, compared to your fantasy self?

Liza is an interesting character because I always have to keep everything in play. I get to sort of live vicariously through her and that’s really fun. I always think that Liza’s doing all the things we wish we could do or we hope we could do, but we’re either to scared or don’t have the opportunity. She’s awesome to play. I get to have all these different dynamics between the characters, and the cast is beyond. We genuinely have such a great time together on set. And it’s fun to do a comedy. It definitely has some substance to it and it has heart, but it’s fun and light and sexy and it’s not too deep. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and that’s really fun as an actress to be able to go to work to everyday. 

Since Liza is lying to a lot of people, you’d think she’d be unlikable. But she’s the opposite, since her motives are in the right place. Do you relate to the ageism that is at the core of this show? 

I’ve been thinking about it and talking about it a lot more now than I ever have, probably because of the show. When I talk about the show, I realized that up until now, I hadn’t really encountered it in my life. I guess I’ve been lucky.

There’s something about Younger that even obliterates my point of view, as far as ageism and how I look at the younger generation and the older generation. It evens the playing field. Before, maybe I would have thought X, Y and Z, but now I’m like, “You know what, we’re all just trying to figure things out here.” That’s what’s been so great about the show, for me personally, and I hope that might be one of the things it’s doing for audience members too. This idea that age is just a number. We all might have these preconceived ideas or notions about Generation X or Millennials or the Baby Boomers, but it’s all just generalizations. This show’s been sort of eye-opening to me in that regard. 

When Charles (above) runs into his attorney, the friend makes some good points about him going after his 26-year-old assistant. Charles has been framed as this knight in shining armor, but at the end of the day, isn’t he kind of making a questionable professional decision?

You’re absolutely right. We see it from Liza’s point of view, and that scene is actually really important because it conceptualizes that and makes you say, “Oh, right. And he kissed her last season!” He is her boss. And we forget about all those things and that’s really important. The show deals with that a bit and how it is a working relationship, but sometimes you can’t help it. He’s just so tall and so cute!

If she had gone through with meeting him at the bar, do you think she would have kissed him?

Yes, I think so. She made herself look really good heading into that by saying she had her priorities on, but she can’t help it with him. I think they would have.

In the second episode, we see that Charles doesn’t handle Liza’s rejection so well. How will this impact her at work?

I think he’s just trying to deal with it: How do we reestablish this relationship? Ultimately with Charles and Liza, I always feel like they are inevitable. It feels very inevitable, like it’s going to happen at some point. As characters, there is this pull that they have towards each other. But it’s nice to see different colors of Charles and that he isn’t always Mr. Perfect. We see different sides of Josh this season, too. It makes the choice complicated. The writers are really smart. With every episode you’re saying, “I don’t know which one!” As opposed to there being this clear winner. It makes it more fun.

If it did lead to her losing her job or walking away again, do you think Liza would ever lie about her age again?

I doubt she would ever do it again. In my mind, I don’t think she would do that. This was a crazy thing that ultimately got out of hand. The web that was woven was way more than she ever anticipated or thought and I don’t know if she would ever consciously do that again.

The next episode also introduces a young Silicon Valley investor. Is there something Millennial-ish you enjoyed learning while filming this storyline?

Noah Robbins, who plays Bryce, is so fantastic. We were joking with him on set because we love working with him and were asking, “Why do you have to be such a dick?” (Laughs.) He’s the most delightful, wonderful guy. But it was really fascinating with his episodes and introducing him into Empirical. One of the things I love about some of those coming up is that it forces us to look at the future of, of course publishing and books, and also this hold onto the classics and what it means to the literature. The show ends up saying a lot. Yes, it’s funny, but we make a few points along the way and that’s fun to be a part of. 

How long can the show really continue on with Liza maintaining this lie? Upcoming scenes seem to hint that living a double life is catching up to her.

I know. I hope that there is a Younger world that exists, we’ll see. Every season, more and more people find out. Darren [Star] and I talk about it and ask, “Can the show exist if more people, or if everyone knew?” And I actually think it could. Because the writers and Darren have created all these characters and the show has, in a way, moved beyond that initial conceit. So, we’ll see. Who knows. I don’t know how long we can feasibly do it, but I hope it’s for as long as it can! Kelsey is the one who kills me. I’m like, “She’s gotta know! Liza’s gotta tell her!” I hope that happens soon. 

Younger airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on TV Land.

TV Land Younger

September 25, 2016 8:00pm PT by Jackie Strause

Giovanni Rufino/ABC

‘Quantico’

Star Priyanka Chopra and showrunner Josh Safran open up to THR about the brutal ending of the season two premiere, which brought about the savage murder of a central political figure.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the season two premiere of Quantico, “Kudove.”]

Quantico delivered its most shocking moment yet with a death scene rarely aired on broadcast TV. In the final moments of the ABC drama’s season-two premiere Sunday, the first lady of the United States was beheaded by a terrorist.

The high-stakes hour opened with Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra) and New York City facing a new global terror threat. Bombs lit up the streets of Manhattan as a terror cell takes hostages at an FBI summit that was attended by series newcomers President Todd (Danny Johnson) and first lady Todd (Nadia Bowers). The episode flashes back from the attack to one year earlier, when Parrish and boyfriend Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin) were first tapped to go undercover for the FBI to the CIA’s The Farm. While training as operatives, they are tasked with uncovering a rogue CIA faction.

Back in the present, Parrish is the only agent who isn’t locked inside with the hostages. She arrives, however, just in time to helplessly watch as a machete comes down on the first lady’s head. The episode cuts to black before following the ghastly moment all the way through, but showrunner Josh Safran assures The Hollywood Reporter that what viewers saw is no gimmick.

“The first lady was beheaded on national television,” he says. “On this show, when somebody’s dead they’re dead, because in the real world, when people die they are dead. It’s about what can happen in a moment. So no one is safe, that’s what the world is.”

Quantico is no stranger to killing off characters, but Safran makes it clear that the decision to push the storyline to such brutal lengths is not for entertainment sake. Instead, it’s meant to reflect the real terror threats of the world today.

“It’s not a decision we took lightly. It’s meant to signal to the characters in the show that this isn’t what they thought it was going to be, much like terrorism is constantly changing directions and never a straight line,” he explains, speaking only one week after the real-life bombings in New York and New Jersey. “Today’s terrorism is meant to be destructive first and foremost. It’s meant to make you unsettled, it’s meant to make you feel unsafe. It’s meant to attack things that you thought were un-attackable. We felt like, if we weren’t going to tell a story that felt like stories in the world, then why are we doing this show? So we decided to not pull the punches and actually tell the story that would happen if this were really happening.”

THR also spoke with Chopra, who says Parrish received Safran’s intended signal loud and clear, as the rest of the season continues to raise the stakes. Unlike last season’s many time jumps, the hostage crisis will play out in real-time over the course of one day, while the show will continue to flash back to Parrish’s training on The Farm. Below, read Chopra’s full chat with THR on filming the intense scene and what viewers can expect this season.

Were you shocked to find out the first lady was going to be beheaded, what did you think when you first read the script?

When I read the end of the script, it took me a few seconds. I was like, “Wait a minute, we’re really doing this?” And then when we shot it. I can’t even watch Game of Thrones, I’m so squeamish. I was dying when we shot it. But it’s something that the show needed and I think that’s a great direction because the stakes are so much higher.

What was it like to film that scene?

The first two times, especially because [first lady Todd] was screaming so much, the first two times were really gory and scary. Especially that last shot with the machete going up. I couldn’t look. I was sitting next to the director, Patrick Norris, and I kept looking away. My nails were digging into his shoulder and I was just saying, “I can’t watch!” He was like, “You’ve been in this business 15 years and you still can’t watch knowing it’s fake?” But it was a lot. It was hard to shoot.

Quantico has seen its share of deaths, but does this stress even more to viewers that anything can happen?

That’s something we set as a precedent in season one: Expect the unexpected. There would always be cliffhangers and things you’d need to figure out. But the best thing about this show is that it’s not unreasonable or doesn’t make any sense. It’s quintessential good television because it keeps you on your toes and it doesn’t take you intelligence for granted, but at the same time, it’s entertaining. So look out for cliffhangers, look out for amazing-looking people in various situations [laughs] and a lot of excitement. I’m on episode seven right now and each one has a lot of excitement. 

How does the premiere set the tone for the rest of the season?

You find out as you go along in the season, why and what happens. This show always has little clues in everything. To me, the first episode is extremely provocative on so many levels. The characters that you see coming back, new characters and what they’re dimensions will be with the old characters —  who I call the OGs. Even with Alex, she’s going to be so out of her element in the CIA. She’s used to the FBI which was integrity and truth and here’s the CIA which is all about immorality and deceit and lies. She will be a little out of her element this season, and we have to see how she deals with that. 

How is seeing such a violent act going to impact Alex, when we pick back up next episode? 

She decides that life is not going to break her. She’s going to fight back. Alex is a hero. She’s going to do whatever she can. She’s law enforcement, she believes in that. She believes in saving America and her country and that’s what she’s going to try and do. She’s going to be a one-man army for a really long time, because such a violent attack has happened and she’s the only one on the outside.

The show is also taking on this global threat, which is based in reality. How does that up the intensity?

To me, entertainment is a reflection of society and society is a reflection of entertainment. It’s symbiotic relationship in a really weird way. Unfortunately, the times of today are that we live in a world that has become so desensitized to terrorism and to the war on humanity. We read about a shooting that’s happened two days ago, and we move on two days later. We’re affected by it, but you don’t put a second thought into it because there’s so much that happens. It’s so unfortunate that we’ve become desensitized. Doing a show like Quantico, which is so relevant to what’s happening in the world today, not just the terrorism aspect but in terms of pop culture, there are so many things we talk about. Gay rights, Israel and Palestine, atrocities on people of color — various things that are affecting the young people of the world today, this show reflects all of that. I think that’s why it’s resonated so much around the world. We’re in 216 territories. The biggest shows don’t have that kind of reach and I think ours does because of that.

The future unfolds in real time, which is reminiscent of 24. Is Alex the new Jack Bauer and up for saving the world again and again?

I’d say she’s like John McClane. Let’s go Die Hard about it. She is extremely badass and she is at the same time, sensible. She’s someone who is fearless, she stares right into the eyes of danger and she takes it on. The way I read the scripts going forward, is that she’s a complete superhero but she’s human.And the action sequences — I do all of the stunts myself — they really, really push me this time. I’m fighting numerous people together and it’s extremely challenging and so much fun to shoot.

Did you train differently for this season compared to last?

When it comes to stunts and action sequences, I’ve had so much experience over the years in doing action movies that I didn’t really train that much for the stunts. They call me Spidey on set! What I needed to really do was work on understanding what the CIA involves. We met a lot of CIA operatives and spent a lot of time with them, exactly like I did with Quantico last year. We talked about the vulnerability of the human aspect of all these operatives and how witnessing everything they witness on an everyday level changes them.

How is The Farm different than Quanitico?

It’s much bigger and it’s much greener. [Laughs] The FBI is all about fidelity and integrity, whereas the CIA is completely the opposite. It’s about lies, deceit, immorality, manipulation. Alex is an honest person and she likes the truth. Here, she has to do a job which involves manipulation and taking advantage of people. Her conscious finds it really hard to be dealing with all of that. 

It hasn’t even been a year since she lost Simon and shot Liam. How will the repercussions of season one rear their head in season two?

She’s extremely affected, mentally. But she’s a tough girl. Her vulnerability is something she deals with on her own, always. She’s been someone who’s always been a quiet sort of person. She doesn’t believe in sharing her emotions or opening up with someone — which is the opposite of me, by the way. But subliminally, she’s extremely affected by all of the things that happened and that will play into the season. She wants to learn and save the country and be in law enforcement, but it’s morally really hard. I’m enjoying mentally playing that conundrum in her mind.

Josh Safran spoke about a lot of changes this season, mainly that it’s not building up to a big finale reveal. How does this season feel different to you?

It feels a little slower and a lot more thought out. I think it’s a much better and a much bigger season than we had last year. We have a bunch of really cool actors that have come onto the show and, from everything I’ve read so far, I’m enjoying this season. The stakes are so much higher, the adrenaline is pumped so much and at the same time, there’s laughs and humor. It’s like a massive movie, a really long one.

What can we expect from the next few episodes?

At some point, you will see the past and future merge, and you’ll understand everything that happened and why people are the way they are in the future. Everything makes sense. That’s the format of the show: the more you watch it, the more it makes sense. I’m really excited about people seeing what Alex does in the future when the G-20 Summit is happening. It’s so badass and fun. In Quantico, it’s fun and it’s light and she’s not as jaded and busted up. 

Physically, is Alex even more badass this season?

Definitely, badass like a boss. I really feel like Rambo in this show. My crew counts my war scars every time I come on set! She’s emotionally stunted after everything that happened in season one, so to see her being this Rambo-badass person when she’s under stress and pressure in the future, and then vulnerable, emotional and mentally messed up in the past, the dichotomy of that is the best part of Alex.

We see in the future that Alex is returning Ryan’s ring. Are they as on-and-off this season, or more solid? 

Alex and Ryan are star-crossed lovers. You see them in the past together, extremely happy. And then you see them in the future where they’ve broken up and she’s returning his ring. Now you have to figure out how and why that happened. They’re definitely more mature and rely on each other a lot more this season, but they’re still star-crossed. You love them and they fight and have this intense passionate bond. But Alex is also a little self-destructive. She’s a solitary person and she’s not vulnerable enough, whereas Ryan really is. She’s a little rough around the edges and whatever’s happened in the past, she has trust issues. So that leads to issues in their relationship.

Well, and at the end of the day, Alex will prioritize saving the world over her relationship, right?

I don’t think that there’s ever that choice. That it would be Ryan versus saving the world. But if she had to make that choice, I’m pretty sure she’d pick saving the world, because she’s that kind of person.

At this point, can Alex trust anyone?

On The Farm, we all have to figure out and suss each other out. Even with Ryan, Alex didn’t even know he was coming into this job. So you don’t know anyone’s complete picture at all. Whether it’s the past or the future. In episode one, we don’t know who is what.

Quantico airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Quantico

September 25, 2016 11:34am PT by Jackie Strause

Amazon

‘Transparent’

The actress who plays Sarah Pfefferman talks to THR about the third season of the Amazon series, which saw Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor) pursuing gender-reassingment surgery.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the entire third season of Transparent.]

The third season of Transparent concluded with the Pfefferman family on cruise ship. Shelly (Judith Light) brought her skeptical family to tears with a soul-bearing take on Alanis Morissette’s “Hand In My Pocket” during the debut of her one-woman show, “To Shell and Back.” Josh (Jay Duplass) missed the performance, because he was spreading his former babysitter and lover’s ashes out to sea.

“We all cried. It wasn’t just the family,” Amy Landecker, who plays Sarah Pfefferman, tells The Hollywood Reporter of the Norwegian Cruise Line-goers who signed up as extras for the scene. “If the whole family had been there it could have felt like the end of the series, but luckily there’s still some trauma going on.”

The joyous yet heartbreaking moment sums up the newest season of the Amazon series, which released its 10 episodes on Friday and has already been renewed for a fourth season. Shelly, Sarah, Josh and Ali Pfefferman (Gaby Hoffmann) all struggle to come out of their own shells as their trans parent Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor) plans to undergo gender-reassignment surgery. The season tackles death, depression (portrayed by Kathryn Hahn’s Rabbi Raquel), crisis in faith and identity. In the end, Maura finds out that, due to health issues, she can’t get the surgery.

Begging the question: What will Maura’s journey look like in season four?

“There’s a lot of people now who don’t get surgery and there’s so much you can do,” says Landecker. “We’re dealing with issues that the actors and writers are dealing with as we’re going along.”

The critically acclaimed series from Jill Soloway is based on the creator’s own experience of having her parent come out as trans, who, like Maura, was in their 70s. Paving the way for telling stories on what it means to be trans, the series continues to reflect the current conversation, with Tambor telling the 2016 Emmys audience after his best actor win that he hopes to be the last cisgender male cast in a female transgender role. (Aside from Tambor, every trans role on Transparent is filled by a trans person.)

Speaking to THR, Landecker reflects on another groundbreaking season, which featured a romantic storyline between a cisgender male (Josh) and transgender woman (Shea) and a Caitlyn Jenner cameo, while introducing young trans actress Sophia Gianni in the role of 12-year-old Mort Pfefferman (now Maura). Read the full chat below.

How do you compare Sarah’s journey this season to seasons one and two?

Sarah is looking for spiritual fulfillment this year, I feel like she’s on a broader path. A lot of what was driving her in season one and two was fear and lust, and maybe boredom and discontentment. Season three, she’s in some ways finding things that work for her and looking for more fulfillment. Of course, this is Transparent and she is a Pfefferman, so it all falls apart! But it’s deeper. It’s more internal and profound. I even watch myself in season three and I see more smiling, she’s a more content person. Even though there are these moments of rage, sadness and frustration, there’s also a lighter side. 

Being a mom yourself, what do you think of Sarah as a mom?

It’s a tough one. In some ways, I think she’s probably good because she’s really organized and driven. But on the other hand, I wonder how present she is to actually being with her kids. Because both her parents are extreme narcissists and Maura was living this life that kept her so detached, Sarah might have inherited some of those qualities of keeping your kids at a distance. I would love to see her connect more with them.

Do you think her parents are why she really wants the arrangement with Len to work?

Yes. She loves her kids, I don’t question that. Part of getting back together with Len is being a family, and I can totally relate to this being a divorced parent and trying to coparent with an ex and wanting as much integration as possible. That’s the best for the kids and that means you don’t have to be away from them. If Sarah and Len can figure out the way to do this, it’s a solution. Not everyone can do it and it doesn’t go totally well, because in the end there’s blurred lines and there’s still some love and attraction between them. So I don’t know how clean the whole situation will end up working. But definitely the attempt is to integrate and be a whole person in my life. To be a sexual person and a mother. A friend, a daughter and true to myself. Sarah’s trying to figure out how to work that puzzle.

Do you think she will get to a place where she eventually figures all that out?

When we are at the end of the series! I don’t want her to get there because I feel like, then what?

Sarah and Len ended in an interesting place, what are her misgivings to fully committing to him? And will Rob Huebel be back for season four?

There’s some hints that he’s going to try with Sarah. Sometimes we can relate to Sarah where I can be one way with my kids and one way on a date and one way at work, and sometimes it’s hard to be your full authentic self with everybody. So that’s going to take some time. But yes, there’s more Len coming. I love me some Len!

Sarah also spent a lot of time with Rabbi Raquel (Kathryn Hahn), who was going through depression.

Yeah, she was dealing with the loss of her baby and the loss of potentially being married and having this family. Kathryn Hahn will just break your heart. She’s going through depression and what I do, just pretty much destroy her?! Raquel has got to get away from the Pfeffermans, we are just toxic to her. But Kathryn’s not going anywhere, we’re not letting her go anywhere.

Good. Does Sarah realize, finally, what Raquel is going through in that breakdown moment with the cantor?

Yes, she does. I’ve done this myself in life where I’m overstimulated and you don’t realize there are consequences and people are in real pain and aren’t your toy to play with. I just don’t think Sarah really sees what’s going on with Raquel and this is all so exciting and Raquel must be having the same experience she’s having it. It actually happened on set where I’m running around like, “This is so fun!” And Kathryn Hahn and Jay [Duplass] are in this dark place and I’m like, “Why isn’t everyone having a good time?” One of the directors was like, “You’re having a good time. No one else is.” And Sarah does that, too. She isn’t the most aware of other peoples’ feelings. Raquel’s just lost her dream and she’s obviously in real love with Josh. Raquel and Josh are like Ross and Rachel [of Friends], they’re meant to be together, we all know that. But whether they will, I don’t know. 

Melora Hardin, who was nominated for an Emmy for Tammy, is absent. Do you think there was any moment this season where Tammy would have fit in, or is Sarah moved on?

I think for now, if Sarah’s going to try to reintegrate with Len she had to be moved on. What she’s trying to do this year is to just have transactional intimacy. To have her needs met without a lot of complex emotions and I think that really appeals to her because she’s trying to repair some of the past. This is a way for her to take care of those needs but still be present in her life, to get a release. To me, Tammy is too wrapped up in the loneliness and the destruction of her life. I think she definitely needed a breathing moment. But I’m always happy to have Tammy to come back if there’s a good way for her to come back. Tammy’s apart of the family — with a P.

As Sarah continues to explore her sexuality. Is there anywhere you, Amy, would be hesitant to go on screen?

I don’t really like hetero-hardcore sex. [Laughs] I choose to keep that to my private life! I don’t have lesbian sex in my real life, so to do that doesn’t feel as scary. But to portray the intimacy of my personal sex life on camera would be really tricky for me. In some ways, it’s freer when it’s out of the realm of your own reality. I’ve actually never done a sex scene that was really intimate and close with a man.

The scene with Len towards the end of the season was pretty intimate.

That’s true. But we’re not naked and we’re not pumping. No pumping and grinding with boys!

Do you have some interesting fan encounters?

I do. People don’t get that I’m not Sarah. It’s funny to compare it to my boyfriend, Bradley Whitford, and what was put on them as the cast of West Wing is that they are actually politicians. So what gets put on an actress that’s playing a BDSM devote is that I’m into BDSM: “No, Bradley was not the Chief of Staff and no, I do not get flogged in my personal life.” It’s sort of funny.

Bradley won an Emmy for his guest-starring role and was nominated again this year, but missing from season three. Will he return?

I hope so. I don’t know. That’s up to Jill. I don’t get to play with him anyway when he’s on the show, but it’s so fun to go through this stuff together. We got to go to the Emmys together this year, and he’s been so great because he’s been through this all before. He helps me to navigate the waters of what is happening, which can kind of be overwhelming. It’s an emotional ride and he’s been very calming and helpful.

How did you two get together?

We actually were both in relationships the first year we were on the show. Then we were single and doing an Emmy panel for season one, and basically talking about our divorces with each other while waiting to go on. We had this real connection about coming through this hardest time in our lives. He made a remark that he has terrible taste in women and then he actually said he was going to ask me out but felt it would have been a terrible insult after saying that! But we connected on some whacky choices in our personal life in the past and our first actual date, he put his hand on my knee and I was done. We’ve been together a year and three months.

Is it nice to not have to give him a warning of what he might see Sarah doing on the show?

I’m not going to say he’s enjoying what’s happening at work all the time! But he certainly supports it and he loves the show and knows everything about what we’re doing and is a part of it. It’s really helpful to not have jealousy and fear around that stuff.

This season continues to break ground with its storylines. It delivers a real romantic storyline for a trans character played by trans actress Shea (Trace Lysette) and Josh, something we haven’t yet seen much of on TV.

Dirty Sexy Money touched on it [with Candis Cayne’s role], which was groundbreaking at the time. But it feels politically powerful to watch this scene where there’s just this real, low-key everyday intimacy between a cisgender man and a trans woman. One of the things I know from being close to Trace, who is probably one of the most beautiful women on the planet, is that there’s still a lot of difficulty for straight men to come out with trans women as their romantic partner. That sucks and is stupid and I would love for that to end. I think the way things change in the world is when we see them first in movies and TV, we need to see it to understand it. I think this is the first step in hopefully opening up the world to the normalcy of this. But even Josh is going through the challenges of that. She’s a beautiful actress and it’s cool to see her have a real, raw emotional moment of what it’s like to be a trans woman dating in our culture.

Josh brings up the stereotypical reactions you would expect any guy like him might have. He wants to stop and think before jumping in, but then when Shea fires back that she isn’t his toy, it’s heartbreaking. What did you think watching the scene?

You can see both sides. That was a whole episode on the road. I wish I was there the day she stripped because that would just be unbelievable and she’s an incredible dancer. But I heard about it and I knew it was really moving and it was a storyline that was really important to Our Lady J, who is one of our writers. We were asked recently if we were running out of stories and I just wanted to say, “The queer trans community and women, we’ve had the ability to tell our own stories for about five seconds. Give us another thousand years, we’ll still have stories to tell.” So these writers are excited and just chomping at the bit. And we get to learn, it’s incredible. These are the most smartest, funniest, most brilliant people that we get to work with. And what they’ve been through? We were in Washington, D.C. and Trace started talking about her personal experience in the world and you just go, “These are people who have been to hell and back to survive.” If you think of the most basic needs of people in the world, how many times do you go somewhere and see a trans person employed? It’s only now becoming at all common and “common” isn’t even the world. People get fired, you can’t get housing. They had no economic viability and yet we want them to not do sex work. How is that going to work? How are they going to pay their bills? There’s no surprise that there’s such a high HIV rate or that there’s sex work in the history of a lot of peoples’ lives because it’s the only way they could make any money. That needs to change. Anyone who needs to get their basic needs met is probably going to revert to illegal behavior if we can’t get good paying jobs. And that’s true for any disenfranchised group in our culture.

The decision to cast a young trans actress, Sophia Gianni (above, left), as 12-year-old Mort in the episode eight flashback is such a powerful message. Were you blown away by her and that episode?

Absolutely. I met her at a brunch for a Transgender Equality fundraiser and she had come in to shoot her episode. I had no idea she was a trans girl, I thought she was a little girl playing young Maura. Her father told me how they found her, which is how I found out she was trans, is that they had done an outreach to trans youth advocacy programs around the country to find out if they knew any young actors that would be interested in auditioning. She was from Indiana, I believe, and had a YouTube channel and was already out and very comfortable in her own skin and into the genderqueer trans culture she had access to on the Internet. She had very supportive parents and was this gorgeous girl.

I watched the making of that episode and I thought, “This is historic.” I was watching the scene in the bomb shelter and she was so unbelievable and so heartbreaking. This show, since it’s started, has had these weird symmetry-fairydust moments where the world is giving it a blessing and I felt like Jill with this scene, yet again, we are blessed. We found this little girl who is the most stunning actress who is totally ready for this ride at 12. If you can get integrated young, like she is where she’s getting work and getting accepted, she has a real shot at an amazing life. But if you’re rejected by your family and kicked out of the house and no one accepts you, that’s really hard. I’m with people all the time who overcome that, but that’s a tall order. Sophia is surrounded by her parents and is herself, it’s amazing to see what love and acceptance can do. So it’s all perfectly lined up and the episode is the best you’ll see on television.

The season ends with Maura finding out she can’t get the gender-reassignment surgery. Where do we go from here?

It’s a good question. It’s interesting. Maura this season goes into super femme mode with the hair and the clothes, and then at the end of the season, she kind of finds this genderqueer place. No one wants to wear Spanx! I think that might be where we’re going. This story is also inspired and based on Jill’s personal experience with her parent, so I think we also mirror the journey that her parent is on. We’re a very live show. We’re dealing with issues that the actors and writers are dealing with as we’re going along, so we’ll have to see.

How did the Caitlyn Jenner flashback cameo come about?

The year that we were shooting season one, our trans producers were like, “Bruce Jenner is transitioning.” Everyone was questioning it and they said, “This is what transitioning looks like.” By the time we released, she was coming out publicly and she actually quotes a moment on our show in the Diane Sawyer interview. When she takes her hair out of her ponytail and kind of frees herself, it’s the same moment Maura has. We were also told that the Kardashians were watching the show, and we have some of the producers who were on I Am Cait, including Zackery Drucker, and share some personnel. We’ve always felt kind of like a family so it was kind of like kismet.

It’s weird that Jill’s parent was going through what Caitlyn was going through at the same time, and this reality show was happening at the same time a fictional narrative was happening. And of course we had Laverne Cox blazing the trail before us to open up the subject, she had already been on the cover of TIME. There really was this weird confluence of events that was saying we were meant to talk about trans issues right now and to go through a new level of civil rights for people. Of course there’s pushback to that, like there is in any civil rights movement, but I know we’re moving in the right direction. You can feel it, you can see it.

Jeffrey Tambor’s speech at the Emmys was one of the night’s highlights, which shows the reach Transparent is having. What has it been like to watch the trans conversation reach a broader audience because of the show?

What it proves to me is that the best way to be happy in the world is to be of service. As an actor, it feels very self-serving. And what this show has given me is a real sense of joy because I feel like I am apart of something that is of service. Jeffrey and Judith are two people who have spent a lot of their lives in service. They’ve always been involved in community outreach. Judith has been involved in the Point Foundation and Jeffrey teaches trans actors how to act for free. The fact that he uses an opportunity like an Emmys speech to say something like that, it’s so typical of him and that’s what’s amazing about him. I know it’s so meaningful to the people he’s worked with, because he’s worked so close to the people in the trans community to get it right. We know all these actors now that should be leads in shows and movies and we’re starting to say, “You don’t really have an excuse. They’re here, they’re trained and available.” I know Alexandra Billings can be a lead on any TV show and on any film, and there’s no excuse for not casting her if you want a trans woman.

Judith’s finale performance of “To Shell And Back” on the cruise really brought the season full circle. Were those real tears from all of you?

God yes. There’s no fake tears, we don’t use glycerin drops — we’re always crying! We’re so moved by each other, it’s a profound journey both on and off the show. We’ve all been through a lot in our lives and we’re all so grateful to be where we are. Judith Light is the light. She’s an exquisite human being. To sit on that ship and watch her have that moment with all these background artists who are all Judith Light fans. They basically said to the ship, “Judith Light will be performing, if you are a fan come.” We were on an incredible cruise to Puerto Vallarta with a regular cruise crowd. They would come sign a waiver and be background artists. There were so many people crying in the audience, and laughing. She’s that good, to do that scene over and over. And she had the same emotional response every time. Every time, we were blown away. We would have watched her do it 50 times. Jill was there, with her sister Faith who wrote the episode, and we all danced on the boat all night after. It was a really joyous night. 

What do you want for Sarah next season?

I would love a genuinely, good, decent moment for her where she really cares for someone else in a way that matters. I would like her to really connect with someone. I don’t care if it’s her kid, if it’s her turtle. But in a real healthy way. It doesn’t have to last, but I would love to play Sarah truly connected and happy in a moment without ego.

The third season of Transparent is streaming now on Amazon.

Photos: Amazon

Transparent